For anyone who has a Netflix account, there are literally thousands of titles, both TV and movies, that can be streamed on demand whenever you want to see them. You can watch them on your computer monitor if you want, but they can also be viewed through both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 as well as through Windows Media Center. With so many choices though, it's difficult to decide what to watch, that's why we here at Geek-tastic have developed this list of the Top Ten Geeky Shows Available On Netflix's Instant Play Feature to help you find the best shows to geek out to while chilling on your couch on your days off. Let's get started, shall we?
10. Heroes - ONLY Season One
My hatred for Heroes in its later seasons is well known, but I will freely and openly admit that I liked the show for the most part in its first season. Sure, it's not the greatest superhero TV show of all time (that title is still held by The Greatest American Hero), but it's not a terrible show either. Long before the show was reduced to Claire's desperate ratings-grabbing Lesbian storyline or before Sylar took a long road trip that went nowhere with the most annoying twins since Mary-kate and Ashley Olsen, Heroes was actually a fairly entertaining comic book superhero drama. Sure, the whole thing was a great big ripoff of the X-Men, but it is still cool to see superheroes on TV. In season one of the show Hiro is still cool, Sylar is still a badass Villain and Claire is . . . well, Claire's been annoying as hell since day one. Nothing really changed there.
If you want some superhero goodness over your holiday break, go ahead and enjoy the first season of heroes. Just promise me that you won't continue on to Season Two. For your own sanity, just don't do it. Pretend like I do that the show was cancelled after Season One and nothing else came after it. In that light, the show is actually really good.
09. Lost
Lost is one of those shows people either love or hate with a passion. There really isn't much of an in-between. It's an X-files kind of show in the sense that there's a million questions that the viewer has, but the show almost never answers those questions. When they do, each answer they give only serves to spawn three new questions. If you like a good adventure/mystery show though, Lost really is the best there is. The first two seasons of the show are non-stop heart-pounding action and suspense. Sure, the show may have lost (no pun intended) its way a bit in Season Three, but they've since recovered and are back again in top form as they approach the beginning of their final season.
If you've never seen Lost before, now is your chance to catch up before it's all over. All five seasons of Lost that have aired so far are available on the Instant Play feature. Even if you've seen Lost before, now is a good chance to go back and get reacquainted with Jake, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley and all the rest. As Desmond would say, "It's the right thing to do brother!"
08. Dexter
Who knew a show about a demented serial killer could be so funny? Strangely enough though, it's hilarious. Dexter is an interesting mix of suspense, violence and very dark comedy that never fails to entertain immensely. The show follows the daily life of a serial killer who just so happens to also be a blood spatter analyst for the Miami police force. Dexter doesn't just kill anyone though. No, he has a code. He only kills bad guys. Killers, rapists, pedophiles, anyone who escapes justice becomes his next victim.
Of special geek note in the show, Dexter's girlfriend is played by actress Julie Benz, whom you'll remember as the vampire Darla from both Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Angel. If you aren't squeamish about blood at all, and love a good suspense story, Dexter will certainly creep you out in all the best ways possible.
07. Cosmos - With Carl Sagan
If you were a child of the 80's like I was, chances are you were introduced to Carl Sagan's Cosmos at an early age. An entire generation grew up watching this show, and every generation since then has followed suit for good reason. Cosmos is the single most popular science documentary ever made. It's been seen in countries around the world and has been viewed by millions of people. It's won more awards than I can count, and it's still as relevant today as it was when it first aired back in the early 80's on PBS.
What is Cosmos, you ask? It's a documentary about space, the earth and Man's role in the universe. Everything from the Big Bang to UFO's are covered in the course of the series, and it's all narrated beautifully by one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. Carl Sagan's delivery and narration are really what make this show so addictive. His absolute passion and excitement about the subject matter come across so powerfully that the viewer can't help but get excited about science too.
This is the series that forever endowed me with a love of space exploration, science and an interest in how my own brain and body work. The fact that this can be viewed whenever one wishes makes me smile inside.
06. The IT Crowd
If you like british comedy shows like the original Office, Coupling, Teachers or Absolutely Fabulous, you'll adore The IT Crowd. The show is about two computer geeks who work in the IT department of a big corporation. In the first episode they are assigned a new boss who doesn't know a thing about computers and, as usually happens in these types of shows, hilarity ensues.
The character of Moss and Roy (the two IT guys) are wonderful. They're the kind of every-day geeks like us that we instantly love. They're smart and funny, but a bit socially awkward (especially Moss). The show is filled with geeky references to computers (of course), comics, movies and other pop culture stuff. The show also features one of the coolest 8-Bit style intros I've ever seen. Be warned though, the theme song is very catchy and you'll be humming it for days.
05. Mystery Science Theater 3000
MST3k is a classic of science fiction comedy. It's show about a guy trapped on a space station with two smartass robots who is forced to sit through the worst films ever just to see what happens to him. To stop himself from going insane, he and his robot friends constantly mock the movies they are seeing. The vast majority of the show is actually the films that are being watched, with the guy (either Mike or Joel depending on the episode) and the robots appearing in the bottom corner of the screen as silhouettes in theater seats. You're watching the movie with them, and their commentary is really what makes the show great.
If you've ever watched a really crappy movie with some friends, and you talked over it for most of the film, you'll know what MST3k is like. While there aren't full season sets on Netflix to watch, there are a ton of individual episodes that can be selected. Click the link above and you'll see a good list of what is available.
Note: Somehow, the drunker one is while watching MST3k, the funnier the jokes are. I don't know quite how that works, but I can attest to the validity of this statement after hours of strict scientific research on my part.
04. Farscape
Long before Battlestar Galactica became the phenomenon it was for the SyFy Channel, Farscape was by far their most popular and highest rated show. The series is about a NASA pilot named John Crichton who gets sucked through a wormhole and ends up on the other side of the galaxy. His goal is to find his way home, but through a series of events in the first episode he finds himself travelling with a group of escaped prisoners in a living spaceship. Oh, and they're being hunted by a very powerful and evil empire-like army.
One other important fact about this show. It was produced by the Jim Henson company, which means a good number of the aliens and the makeup and whatnot on the show was done by them. Now, don't go thinking that this is a Space Muppets show. This isn't Pigs in Space. This is the Henson company at the height of their game. Think Labyrinth or Dark Crystal, but with better effects. These are some serious puppets and special effects we're talking about here.
What do you get when you blend space operas and Jim Henson? You get Farscape, and the show takes the best parts of both worlds and is ever more awesome for it. The entire series of Farscape is available on the Instant Play feature too, so you won't miss a moment of its greatness.
03. Doctor Who
There's a reason that Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction show of all time. It's beyond awesome. The tale of the Time Lord known only as The Doctor has been going on for over 40 years now, and I doubt it will be stopping anytime soon. Don't feel daunted by the show's long history though. The series got a reboot of sorts back in 2005, and it's the perfect jumping on point for those who have never watched an episode of Doctor Who before.
The Doctor is an immortal alien known as a Time Lord. He's a super genius and he travels through space and time just for the fun of it. Along the way he gets caught up in one adventure after another. His life is definitely not boring. Oh, and he usually has a pretty and smart sidekick with him on his travels.
In the current series of the show that started back in 2005, two different men have played The Doctor. Christopher Eccleston, whom you may remember as the army commander in 28 Days Later or as the invisible man from Heroes, plays the doctor for the first season of the show. After he leaves, The Doctor is played by the truly amazingly talented David tennant.
Doctor Who is sci-fi at it's campiest best. It's meant to be fun. This isn't dark sci-fi, it's fun sci-fi, filled with hope and wonder and the belief that tomorrow will always be a better day. With so many franchises that have tried to get darker and edgier over the years, it's so nice to see a show that has steadfastly stuck to its roots and is even more popular today than it ever has been before.
02. Legend Of The Seeker
When I first heard that Sam Raimi and his production company Renaissance Pictures would be adaptating Terry Goodkind's beloved Sword of Truth fantasy novels into a TV series, I was incredibly skeptical. The only thing I could think of was that this was going to be another cheesy fantasy series like the Hercules and Zena: Warrior Princess series' he had produced before. Not that those are bad shows, mind you. But since Lord of the Rings came out in theaters, I've been dying for a good fantasy series on TV and I thought that Legend of the Seeker would never be that with Raimi producing it.
Oh how wrong I was.
Make no mistake, Legend of the Seeker is no new Hercules or Zena series. This is a Lord of The Rings scale epic fantasy series beyond my wildest dreams. I think my jaw actually dropped a few times during the first episode of this show. The production values are movie quality. The special effects are flawless and gorgeous. The whole thing is shot on location in New Zealand, so the scenery is beautiful. The writing is superb. The actors are top notch. The characters are fun, endearing and exciting. And best of all, the story is epic as all good fantasy tales should be.
Legend of the Seeker is about a man named Richard Cypher. He is the first true Seeker born in over a thousand years. He has been destined to save the world from the evil lord Darken Rahl, a ruthless wizard and king who rules the lands with an iron fist. Richard must go from a humble upbringing and train to become the warrior he needs to be to complete his destiny. Helping him is a very powerful wizard named Zedicus Zu'l Zorander and a beautiful Confessor named Kahlan, who has the power to turn men away from evil with a single touch.
Think of it like this, Legend of the Seeker is a weekly series that has badass swordfights, cool magic, dark wizards, evil armies, damsels in distress, forbidden love, epic quests and all of the other things that make fantasy so great in the first place. In my opinion, it is hands down the greatest fantasy TV series I have ever seen. The whole first season of the show is available on Netflix's Instant Play feature as well as the first few episodes from season two so far.
My only hope is that this show continues on for years and years to come.
01. Star Trek - The Original Series
Where would we as geeks be without Star Trek? The original series of Trek is a foundation upon which most of science fiction today as we know it is built. This is the series that gave us Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, phrases like "Warp speed Mr. Sulu" and "I'm giving it all she's got Captain!". It's the show that introduced the concept of the "Red Shirt" to us. It made words like "Phasers" and "Warp Drive" common household terms. It taught us the greatest hand signal of all time and also gave television it's first ever interracial kiss.
It broke down more barriers than I can even think of. It's gone beyond being a TV show and has become ingrained in our popular culture. Walk up to anyone on the street and ask them what "Beam me up Scotty" means and they'll be able to tell you, even if they've never ever watched a single episode of Star Trek in their whole life.
Now, the first season of the original series that started it all is available for viewing on the Instant Play feature. This is the newly remastered version of the series too. The special effects have been updated with amazing CG work that still evokes the original look of the show. The overall picture quality of the show has been cleaned up too so that it looks even better today than it did when it first aired on TV.
For both new Trek fans and old, having Star Trek on demand like this is like a present from the gods. It is something to be cherished and loved.
Hey! These are actually some of the nice movies that I have watched. I was just looking for series by Andy Yeatman for my kids but it was good to come across this post. I am going to share this post with my friends as well.
ReplyDelete